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Style and Grayse Spotlight: Perry Mattfeld

Posted on Jun 22, 2018

Well-educated, hard-working, and humble, Perry Mattfeld is an actress on the rise. Growing up as a ballerina, playing piano, taking singing lessons, and acting in school plays, the 24 year old Long Beach native has always enjoyed the arts. After booking her first professional role at age 12, she decided to pursue acting as a career. Perry graduated from her dream school USC two years ago with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting and a Bachelor of Arts in film. “Going to college was really important to me,” said Perry. “I was super academic growing up.” As the industry is moving faster than ever, more and more young actors choose to opt out of college and jump straight into auditioning. Perry cites Meryl Streep who went to Yale and Emma Watson who went to Brown as inspirations. “The more educated you are and the more life experience you have, the more you can contribute to your characters,” says Perry.

Right after Perry graduated, she met Kelly Gray. Kelly hired her to model for Grayse and she’s been modeling in our photoshoots and runway shows ever since. “I knew the first time I met Perry that not only is she a rare, natural beauty, but she has that star quality that only comes along every once in a while,” said Kelly. “I feel so lucky that I met Kelly and that she’s kind of taken me under her wing,” Perry said. She started modeling her freshman year of high school when she grew six inches in one year. Although her true passion is acting, Perry still very much enjoys modeling, especially runway. “It’s, in its own way, live art, with an audience, with music. It’s like a show really,” said Perry. “It’s a performance but on the runway.”

The modeling and acting industries are tough. Auditioning is a notoriously difficult part of being an actor or model. According to Perry, “You pour your heart and soul and spend hours or even days carrying a character, only for the actual audition to be a maximum of 90 seconds,” Perry said. “It can be 90 seconds that you give everything to for a response of just ‘thanks’ and that’s really hard.” However, it makes getting a role that much more exciting. Last year, Perry’s talent earned her the role of Mel, a recurring character on season 8 and the upcoming season 9 of the hit show Shameless. This year, Perry landed the starring role in the new CW series In the Dark.

Perry’s new character was a huge learning experience for her. “Not only is the writing phenomenal and the director phenomenal, but the role itself is a dream role for me because it requires a full-on character study,” said Perry. Perry plays Murphy, a blind bad girl. She’s an alcoholic, terrible at relationships, and on top of it all, has no eyesight. “Playing blind became a research project,” Perry said. “I spent hours with multiple blind people, watching their every move.” Perry observed them do everything from brushing their teeth to getting in and out of cars in order to get a sense of their movements and lifestyle. To learn how to use a cane, Perry spent a lot of time with her eyes closed moving around with a cane. Another part of Perry’s training was bonding with the dog that plays her guide dog on the show. Through her research and preparation, she has completely fallen in love with this role. “It’s a dream come true for an artist,” Perry said.

We at Grayse are so excited for Perry’s success. Make sure to catch her as Mel on Shameless and look out for her upcoming CW show In the Dark premiering February 2019!